Vehicle towage fee for faulty vehicle in the Xueshan Tunnel will be increased by $1500 starting from March 2019

The average number of vehicles break down on the Freeway #5 in Xueshan Tunnel is about 1,100 a year, and the processing time is about 23 minutes. After the faulty vehicle is removed, it takes about 46 minutes to resolve, which affects the traffic dramatically. Therefore, the Freeway Bureau scheduled to adjust the basic fee for the tolls for large and small faulty vehicles in the Xueshan Tunnel on Freeway #5 starting from March 1, 2008. will increase by additional $1,500; that is, the small vehicles towage fee will be at $3,000, the large passenger car under 8 tons is at $5,700, and the bus of more than 8 tons is at $6,750. The drivers and passengers are asked to make sure checking the condition of the vehicle before driving, and pay attention to the condition of the vehicle at any time during driving to reduce the probability of vehicle failure.

According to the Freeway Bureau, the traffic volume of Freeway #5 on weekday peaks or holidays has exceeded the current road designed capacity, which is likely to cause congestion. There is no shoulder in the tunnel for vehicles to be temporarily parked for rescue. In the event of an accident or vehicle failure, in addition to delaying the rescue and removal, it also affects traffic safety and smoothness. Due to the poor environmental conditions of the towed vehicles in the Xueshan Tunnel, unlike other road sections where there are rescue vehicles patrolling at any time, in order to speed up the removal of accidents or faulty vehicles and to meet the needs of tunnel disaster prevention and disaster relief, Freeway Bureau budgets every year in the public bidding to subcontract the service vendor to pre-position the towing vehicle standby at the second end of the Xueshan Tunnel, which can quickly remove the accident or the faulty vehicle in the Xueshan Tunnel.

In addition, 95% of the number of vehicle break down in the Xueshan Tunnel are due to faulty vehicles, most of which are attributable to the situations that could be prevented by the drivers, including lack of oil, water shortage, power shortage or mechanical failure. For example, a large bus broke down in the 18.2K location in Xueshan Tunnel on November 3, 2018 (as shown in Figure 1), resulting in traffic congestion of about 12 kilometers; on November 9, 2018, the Freeway southbound at 25.3K location, a bus crashed in the Xueshan Tunnel (see Figure 2), traffic congestion was about 11 km.

It is estimated that the average cost of each faulty vehicle in the Xueshan Tunnel, including the standby cost and the lateral time cost and fuel consumption cost of the congestion, will be as high as about $13,000. This increase in the towage fee for the rescue in the Xueshan Tunnel is only to collect part of the standby fee of $1,500, which does not fully reflect the cost of rescuing each faulty car. However, the Freeway Bureau hopes to reminder the drivers to check the condition of the car before hitting the road to avoid failures in the Xueshan Tunnel.

The towage fee for the rescue in the Xueshan Tunnel will be applied to the faulty vehicle, and the expenses incurred by the drivers will be increased. The special funds will be reserved for Xueshan Tunnel, used in the budget of the rescue vehicle, and the public money will be paid to the subcontractor service vendors’ standby fee. The Freeway Bureau reminds drivers to check the condition of the vehicle before going on the road to reduce the probability of vehicle failure and improve the overall road safety and smoothness.